Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The bells are officially off

Brian Mulroney is refusing a request from the House of Common ethics committee to return for more testimony on his business dealings with Karlheinz Schreiber.

No reason is given for the decision in a terse posting Tuesday on Mr. Mulroney's website.

But Guy Pratte, the lawyer for the former prime minister, said he would be sending a more detailed message Wednesday to Paul Szabo, the Liberal chairman of the committee.

Mr. Mulroney has already testified once before the panel, but MPs wanted him back Thursday to face questioning on discrepancies between his version of events and those of other witnesses.

The committee could issue a subpoena forcing Mr. Mulroney to appear, but several members have indicated they won't do that — especially since Mr. Mulroney will have to testify at a coming public inquiry.

See you at the public inquiry, guy...:) With real lawyers and oaths and all kinds of neat stuff. That is, assuming Harpie's still up for one. He has a way of breaking his word, so we'll await his machinations.

In the meantime, it hasn't ended well for Mr. Mulroney. Contradictions to his testimony and a lack of proof of his international lobbying claims are the last impressions left. Not exactly the way one would think a former PM would want to leave things.